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So, heh, apologies for this one. Normally, I have an edit run at the chapter before I submit it, but that's just making me late and top of my list presently is to be more productive. That isn't a problem this week(!!), as this submission is rather long. Sorry about that. I hope it's not too long. All I can hope is that I can carry forward the 'spare' I've had the last few weeks and rely upon your good will <grovel, grovel> Usual stuff. Do with it as you will. Chapter recap: 01 - In small town in British Columbia, Q and M close out the Not-All-That-Curious Case of the Stolen Art; 02 - Q and M decide on what to do next, all the options seem to have some issue or other. Q's ex-father calls; 03 - After some political machinations, we meet EM (the administrator) and TT (the scientist) who at Gen-X-Trk in Yellowknife, NWT; 04 - T is coerced by More into releasing the MTs. They are meant to kill her, but it does not go to plan for Mor. Now he has a problem 05 - Back with Q and M, they speak to R before going to meet him at the airport, but the plane crashes in 'unexpected' circumstances; 06 - Q and M are questioned at the sheriff's office then taken to the hospital to see R who they manage to speak to briefly before More appears and kills R; Cheers, Robinski

Dear all, Firstly, please forgive me for my lack of response on previous submissions. WorldCon and the lead up to it has been pretty all-consuming. I've done next to nothing on this end, Sorry! I will get caught up over the next week or so, promise. On to normal business, here is Chapter 6 of TCC. Any and all comments greatly appreciated. Chapter Recap: 01 - In small town in British Columbia, Q and M close out the Not-All-That-Curious Case of the Stolen Art; 02 - Q and M decide on what to do next, all the options seem to have some issue or other. Q's ex-father calls; 03 - After some political machinations, we meet EM (the administrator) and TT (the scientist) who at Gen Ex Trick in Yellowknife, NWT; 04 - T is coerced by M into releasing the MTs. They are meant to kill her, but it does not go to plan for M. Now he has a problem 05 - Back with Q and M, they speak to R before going to meet him at the airport, but the plane crashes in 'unexpected' circumstances; Cheers, Robinski

Hey all, Chapter 5. Tagged accordingly. Chapter Recap: 01 - In small town in British Columbia, Q and M close out the Not-All-That-Curious Case of the Stolen Art; 02 - Q and M decide on what to do next, all the options seem to have some issue or other. Q's ex-father calls; 03 - After some political machinations, we meet EM (the administrator) and TT (the scientist) who at Gen Ex in Yellowknife, NWT; 04 - T is coerced by M into releasing the MTs. They are meant to kill her, but it does not go to plan for M. Now he has a problem Any an all comment greatly appreciated. I'm really sorry I haven't responded to last week's and I am so far behind on critiquing too. Bah, sorry! Cheers, Robinski

Hey all, hopefully there is not too much WRS me having missed a week through my own dough-headedness. Chapter 4. Tagged accordingly. Chapter Recap: 01 - In small town in British Columbia, Q and M close out the Not-All-That-Curious Case of the Stolen Art; 02 - Q and M decide on what to do next, all the options seem to have some issue or other. Q's ex-father calls; 03 - After some political machinations, we meet EM (the administrator) and TT (the scientist) who at Gen Ex Trick in Yellowknife, NWT Cheers, Robinski

Hi folks, Chapter 3. Usual routine, if you're willing. Any and all comments gratefully accepted. There is 'only' one 'F' word, but I've tagged it anyway. Chapter Recap: - is this helpful? I'll keep doing it anyway 01 - In small town in British Columbia, Q and M close out the Not-All-That-Curious Case of the Stolen Art; 02 - Q and M decide on what to do next, all the options seem to have some issue or other. Q's ex-father calls; Cheers, Robinski

Hi folks, Chapter 2. Same routine, if you're willing. Any and all comments gratefully accepted. Chapter Recap: - is this helpful? I'll do it anyway. 01 - In small town in British Columbia, Q and M close out the Not-All-That-Curious Case of the Stolen Art; Cheers, Robinski

Hey everybody! I'm just going to dive in. Apologies to Silk, but the slot's still there, dang it! So, now that this second novel in my future P.I. series is complete in first draft (as of April), I would like to pass it through that sharp and reinforcing filter that is Reading Excuses! Some of you 'old stagers' have read this first chapter three times before (June '17, Jan. '18 and Feb. '18), sorry, but if you're willing to give it another go I would be grateful. I am very much interested in fresh eyes on it though. While it is the second novel in a series, it is designed to be self-contained, so those with no prior knowledge of Q&M should have no problem absorbing it, I trust! Tagged L for Language (always); and Sr for sexual references. Chapter 1 - EXT, night: How appropriate on July 1st that we find our protagonists north of the 49th parallel... Many thanks for any and all comments. Nothing specific, just everything and anything Cheers, Robinski p.s. - Sorry I'm a bit behind with my critiques. I'll be catching those up over the next couple of days now that other deadlines are behind me.

I have had some fantastic notes on trends running through many of the chapters submitted so far that I have to fix, but at this stage (Draft 1), I continue to try and press ahead and get to the end of the book, because the first task/challenge, always, is to finish. I deeply appreciate all the comments that you guys have put in, and for bearing with me as some of things perhaps do not appeared to be fixed as we go forward, but please know that all are being recorded and will be addressed in the second draft. In that spirit, here is another chapter of TCC (the 11th, in case your hexadecimal isn't what is used to be), in which our various characters make varying degrees of progress towards Yellowknife. Thank you in advance for anything that you see fit to comment upon. Best, Robinski

Bit rushed. Sorry. I'm just not writing fit enough to keep up with the submission schedule and critiquing, but very reluctant to miss a week (slots permitting) and lose the thread. Thank you for your patience, and apologies for my tardiness in replying to your kindly offered comments. Ay least this one's a bit shorter <R>

Not much to say about this, other than to invite your every helpful comments, and to hope that you enjoy it. Wee bit of gore, but passive in the sense that you don't get to see the gore happening. So, in a pathology sort of way. Bon appetit! <R>

So, pressing on, slightly longer this week, I hope that is okay. If there was a Part 1 to the story, this would be the end that part. I hope it is action-packed, and that it pulls you through, but also provides some nuggets background and character moments. I realise that there are logistical issues in the submission to date, and retconning his made some aspect disjointed. I need a good edit to rectify a lot of this stuff, but I'd like to forge on with the story. I'm planning a doing a short summary to benchmark where I should have got to by this point, for submission next week, in the hope that it will help with WRS and Retcon Disfunction, and ease the way for the very patient reader into the second part of the story. Thanks for reading!! Best, Robinski

Felicitations fellow excusers. You have seen part of this chapter before, but not the other part, because I did something that probably you've been screaming at me to do for ages, take two chapters and squish them together into one chapter. Anyway, hopefully this has some action and impetus. I'll apologies in advance for any continuity stuff, as I am sort of making changes as a I go, but might be lagging behind on working some through. Brickbats and exultations accepted with equal delight! Best, Robinski

Bonjour, tout le monde. I hope everyone is having a pleasant Easter. Attached are Chapters 5 and 6 of TCC; please forgive the slightly higher word-count. Hopefully, these will be interesting, stimulating and exciting enough that you will not notice!! Same old all-encapsulating comments would be splendid. Many thanks. Best, Robinski

Okay, all I'm going to say is that--losing track as I am--I don't think you've seen this chapter before, but I've pulled it a bit further forward. 'G is for gore. Enjoy! As usual, anything and everything you see fit to comment on is fair game. Thanks for your consideration! Best, Robinski

Hey everyone, So, pressing ahead with resubmission, this is Chapter 3, but might become Chapter 2 again!! Whatever the case, it's more of the dysfunctional duo. If you can remember back over the last couple of weeks, any comments on the ordering of chapters will be gratefully accepted, along with the usual stuff. Many thanks for your consideration. Best, Robinski

So, I swithered for a while about whether to submit this first chapter again, because it's more of a prologue, and you've read it twice before. I submit it then on the basis that some folks might not read it again, and that's totally fine. What I'm hoping is that a new reader or two might pick it up. Genuine question for those who have been on here submitting and who haven't read my stuff before: is there something that puts you off? The rating? The language? I'm just indulging in some market research L - for mademoiselle potty-mouth; Sr - for sexual references, nothing heavy, barely deserves the rating, imo Any comments welcomed, but I'm interest to know if certain things that snagged before are fixed, or not... Thanks for considering, <R>

Hey folks, So, this Chapter 2 is substantially revised, with new material, but also some you've seen before but in a different place. I'm hoping this addresses the issue of conveying what is going on at an earlier stage. Previously, there was a sort of sequel to the opening action of closing the art theft case. I'm hoping this is much better at ramping up the tension. Thanks for your consideration. <R>

Hey everyone, So, after missing a week, I'll do a short recap. Chp1 - We join Q&M in small-town Canada, at the exciting denouement of the Gren. case, which they wrap up with only a little shooting and a small armchair fire. Chp2 - Q&M, after helping the police with their enquiries, chill out and consider their next case. There are several exciting options, but they tend towards the closest one, because they're that lazy. Chp3 - Q&M head to the airport to meet their client. There is a plane crash. That cannot be good. Coincidence? Chp4 - We meet Eve and Tania up in Yellowknife, where they are busy building genetically-engineered fantasy creatures as a support function of humanity's burgeoning terra-forming industry. Here is Chapter 5. Whatever pops into your head, good or bad, please to share. I'm especially interested in chapter arc, which your guys have never let me off with anyway, but I'm now trying to pre-think it, then delivery it. Best, Robinski

Hey everyone, So, you've made it this far into TCC (I hope! Or maybe you haven't...) on the back of M&Q doing their thing. Here comes something else... 1) As usual, and for new critics, please do not use full names or unique words in your critique; 2) It's marked 'L', although I honestly can't remember if there is any language in it; 3) It's marked 'S' for sexual references, oblique ones; 4) Any and all comments welcomed. Please don't feel that, if you haven't read the other chapters, you can't read this one. Any comments on language and just the happens of one chapter out of context of the whole story are still very much appreciated. Best, Robinski

Hey everyone, Chapter 3 of TCC. Any comments greatly welcomed. For any new members kindly reviewing, please abbreviate character names and any 'unique' story terms, i.e. anything made up! Thank you. Best, Robinski

Not much to say specifically. Any comments that you may have will be most welcome. Usual stuff; flow, entertainment, typos, whatever. One thing I am trying to concentrate on this time around is chapter arcs, so you might watch out for that. Cheers, Robinski

Hey folks, A very Happy New Year to you all. Here is the first chapter of my current project, TCC, which is Book 2 and sequel to the last novel that I submitted over 16 separate weeks on RE. Some of you will have read TMM, some will not, an I will value your comments equally and very highly, of course! So, any and all comment very welcome. If the old hands feel there is something missing or not explained from previously, that would be very valuable. If the Q&M newcomers pick up references that don't land because of not having read that first one, that's important to know, although I do not necessary believe that a complete retread of every note of Book 1 is necessary. LANGUAGE WARNING: One of the characters is a bit sweary--make that a lot sweary, but it's okay, she's a 14-year-old girl. Many thanks for your consideration. Robinski